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Apr

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Isaiah 61:1-11 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted (v.1).

Read Ezekiel 34:8-11 andJohn 21:15-19 to find out the correlation between our love for God and our willingness to care for others.

What hurdles keep you from responding to the call to bring God’s healing to others? How is God challenging you to think differently about your responsibility in reaching out to the hurting?

I held tightly to my husband as we hurried to catch a taxi. Night had settled, but the city continued to pulsate with a steady flow of cars, motorcycles, and people. Rounding a corner, I saw her sleeping in front of a store. Light from the doorway highlighted her young face, and her thin blanket came up short in covering her dirty socks and flip-flops. I had come thousands of miles to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to speak to women about their God-given value and His empowering love, yet I felt powerless to help the woman lying in front of me.

Matthew 9:36-38 records the heartbeat of Christ as He looked with compassion on crowds of people who came to Him. Moved by their great needs, Jesus used the situation to teach His disciples. Interestingly, Jesus didn’t tell His disciples to pray for opportunities to reach out. Jesus knew the poor would always be with them (Mark 14:7). Opportunity isn’t the need; laborers are.

Perhaps we find it easier to pray for opportunities rather than understand that every day—every moment— provides divine appointments. As those who carry the life of Christ in us, we carry the restorative anointing Isaiah speaks of. But we can’t do it alone.

Each of us is “a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes” (Isaiah 58:12) when we reach out to those in need, and when we pray for God to raise up laborers in our midst. Both motivate us to action. The women I spoke to that night needed to hear that God places great value on their lives and that He heals broken hearts. The woman sleeping on the street, and countless others like her, are waiting to hear that good news.

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: 1 Samuel 25:1-42